Chinese Occultism

CH INESE OCCULT ISM BY P AU L C A R U S

1907

Chinese Occultism By Paul Carus This edition was created and published by Global Grey 2015. ©GlobalGrey 2015

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Contents The Yih System The Tablet Of Destiny Divination Urim And Thummim P‘An-Ku The Five Elements Systems Of Enumeration Feng-Shui Lo-Pan The Mariner's Compass A Chinese Invention The Personification Of Stars Prehistoric Connections

1

The Yih System Belief in mysterious agencies characterises a certain period in the religious development of every nation. Even the Jews, distinguished among the Semites by their soberness, consulted Yahveh through the Urim and Thummim, an oracle the nature of which is no longer definitely known. Kindred institutions among most nations are based upon primitive animism, or a belief in spirits, but in China we have a very peculiar mixture of logical clearness with fanciful superstitions. Chinese occultism is based upon a rational, nay a philosophical, or even mathematical, conception of existence. An original rationalism has here engendered a most luxurious growth of mysticism, and so the influence of occultism upon the people of the Middle Kingdom has been prolonged beyond measure. THE YIH SYSTEM. Among the ancient traditions of China there is a unique system of symbols called the yih (

), i.e., "permutations" or "changes," which consists of all possible

combinations of two elements, called liang i ( which are the negative principle, yin (

), i.e., the two elementary forms,

), and the positive principle, yang (

).

THE TWO PRIMARY FORMS 1 (LIANG I). THE YANG

THE YIH

Old form Modern form

The four possible configurations of yang and yin in groups of two are called ssu shiang ( ), i.e., "the four [secondary] figures"; all further combinations of the elementary forms into groups of three or more are called kwa ( ). In English, groups of three elementary forms are commonly called trigrams, and groups of six, hexagrams. The book in which the permutations of yang and yin are recorded, was raised in ancient times to the dignity of a canonical writing, a class of literature briefly called king in Chinese. Hence the book is known under the title of Yih King.

It is difficult to translate the term Liang I. One might call the two I "elements," if that word were not used in another sense. The two I are commonly referred to as "Elementary Forms" or "Primary Forms." De Groot speaks of them as "Regulators." 1

2

The Yih King is one of the most ancient, most curious, and most mysterious documents in the world. It is more mysterious than the pyramids of Egypt, more ancient than the Vedas of India, more curious than the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon. In the earliest writings, the yang is generally represented as a white disk and the yin as a black one; but later on the former is replaced by one long dash denoting strength, the latter by two short dashes considered as a broken line to represent weakness. Disks are still used for diagrams, as in the Map of Ho and the Table of Loh, but the later method was usually employed, even before Confucius, for picturing kwa combinations. The trigrams are endowed with symbolical meaning according to the way in which yin and yang lines are combined. They apply to all possible relations of life and so their significance varies. Since olden times, the yih system has been considered a philosophical and religious panacea; it is believed to solve all problems, to answer all questions, to heal all ills. He who understands the yih is supposed to possess the key to the riddle of the universe. The yih is capable of representing all combinations of existence. The elements of the yih, yang the positive principle and yin the negative principle, stand for the elements of being. Yang means "bright," and yin, "dark." Yang is the principle of heaven; yin, the principle of the earth. Yang is the sun, yin is the moon. Yang is masculine and active; yin is feminine and passive. THE FOUR FIGURES (SSU SHIANG). SYMBO NAM SIGNIFICANCE L E Yang Sun Major

Heat

Mentality Unity (or The nature Eyes (or origin) of things leadership (essence) )

Great Monarch 2

Yang Fixed Dayligh Corporalit Rotation Compound Nose Prince Minor Stars t y (bodily things 3 organism) Yin Planet Night Minor s

Materialit Successio Multiplicity Mout Duke 4 y (inertia; n h bodily substance

While the Yin major denotes dominion in the concrete world of material existence, the Yang major symbolises the superhuman and supernatural, the divine, the extraordinary, such as would be a genius on a throne, a great man in the highest sense of the word. 3 Unity in multiplicity, i.e., the Yang dominating over the Yin. 4 Multiplicity in unity, i.e., the Yin dominating over the Yang. 2

3

) Yin Moon Cold Major

Sensuality Quality ; passion

Attributes of things

Ears

Emperor

The former is motion; the latter is rest. Yang is strong, rigid, lordlike; yin is mild, pliable, submissive, wifelike. The struggle between, and the different mixture of, these two elementary contrasts, condition all the differences that prevail, the state of the elements, the nature of things, and also the character of the various personalities as well as the destinies of human beings. The Yih King ( ) is very old, for we find it mentioned as early as the year 1122 B.C., in the official records of the Chou dynasty, where we read that three different recensions of the work were extant, the Lien Shan, the Kwei Ts‘ang and the Yih of Chou, 5 of which, however, the last one alone has been preserved.

THE EIGHT KWA FIGURES AND THE BINARY SYSTEM. NAME TRANSCRIPTION MEANINGS OF CHINESE WORD 6

THE KWA

BINARY ARABIC SYSTEM NUMERALS

ch‘ien

to come out; to rise, sunrise; vigorous; (present meaning) dry.

111

7

tui

to weigh; permeable.

110

6

li

to separate

101

5

chan

to quake; to thunder

100

4

sun

peaceful; pedestal

011

3

k‘an

a pit; to dig a pit.

010

2

to

a

barter;

stand

or

5 Lien Shan means "mountain range" and by some is supposed to be a nom de plume of Shen Nung (i.e. "divine husbandman"), the mythical ruler of ancient China (2737–2697 B.C.), successor to FuhHi. Others identify Lien Shan with Fuh-Hi. Kwei Ts’ang means "reverted hoard" and may have been simply an inversion of the Lien Shan arrangement. Its invention is assigned to the reign of Hwang Ti, "the Yellow Emperor," the third of the three rulers, (2697–2597 B.C.), a kind of a Chinese Numa Pompilius. The Chou redaction of the Yih, which is the latest one, is named after the Chou dynasty. 6 A native student of the Yih system does not connect the usual meaning of the word with the names of the eight Kwas, and we insert here a translation of the character only for the sake of completeness.

4

kan

a limit; to stop; perverse.

001

1

kw‘un

earth; to nourish; yielding.

000

0

This Yih of Chou, our present Yih King, exhibits two arrangements of the kwa figures, of which one is attributed to their originator, the legendary Fuh-Hi, ( other to Wen Wang. (

.) Fuh-Hi is also called Feng, (

.) the

.) "wind," and Tai Ho, (

.) "the great celestial," and he lived, according to Chinese records, from 2852 to 2738 B.C. It speaks well for the mathematical genius of the ancient founders of Chinese civilisation that the original order of the yih, attributed to Fuh-Hi, corresponds closely to Leibnitz’ Binary System of arithmetic. If we let the yin represent 0 and the yang, 1, it appears that the eight trigrams signify the first eight figures from 0–7, arranged in their proper arithmetical order, and read from below upward. Leibnitz knew the yih and speaks of it in terms of high appreciation. Indeed it is not impossible that it suggested to him his idea of a binary system. While Fuh-Hi's system exhibits a mathematical order, Wen Wang's is based upon considerations of occultism. It stands to reason that Fuh-Hi (by which name we understand that school, or founder of a school, that invented the yih) may not have grasped the full significance of his symbols in the line of abstract thought and especially in mathematics, but we must grant that he was a mathematical genius, if not in fact, certainly potentially. As to further details our information is limited to legends. The case is different with Wen Wang, for his life is inscribed on the pages of Chinese history and his character is well known.

FUH-HI

5

The personal name of Wen Wang (i.e., the "scholar-king") is Hsi-Peh, which means "Western Chief." He was the Duke of Chou, one of the great vassals of the empire, and lived from 1231 to 1135 B.C. In his time the emperor was Chou-Sin, a degenerate debauché and a tyrant, the last of the Yin dynasty, who oppressed the people by reckless imposition and provoked a just rebellion. Wen Wang offended him and was long kept in prison, but his son Fa, surnamed Wu Wang, being forced into a conflict with Chou-Sin, overthrew the imperial forces. The tyrant died in the flames of his palace which had been ignited by his own hands. Wu Wang 7 assumed the government and became the founder of the Chou dynasty which reigned from 1122 until 225 B.C.

THE TRIGRAMS AS FAMILY RELATIONS. FATHER

MOTHER

Eldest Son Second Son Youngest Son

Eldest Daughter

Second Daughter

Youngest Daughter

Wen Wang was a man of earnest moral intentions, but with a hankering after occultism. During his imprisonment he occupied himself in his enforced leisure with the symbols of the yih, and found much comfort in the divinations which he believed to discover in them. When he saw better days he considered that the prophecies were fulfilled, and his faith in their occult meaning became more and more firmly established. 8 The eight permutations of the trigrams apparently form the oldest part of the Yih King. They have been an object of contemplation since time immemorial and their significance is set forth in various ways. The trigrams consisting of three yang lines are called the unalloyed yang, and of three yin lines, the unalloyed yin. In the mixed groups the place of honor is at the bottom, and if they are conceived as family relations, the unalloyed yang represents the father and the unalloyed yin, the mother.

7 8

Wu Wang was born 1169 B.C.; he became emperor in 1122 B.C. and died 1116 B.C. Mayers, Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 177.

6

ARRANGEMENT OF TRIGRAMS ACCORDING TO FUH-HI.

The three sons are represented by the trigrams containing only one yang; the eldest son having yang in the lowest place, the second in the middle, and the third on top. The corresponding trigrams with only one yin line represent in the same way the three daughters. The trigrams are also arranged both by Fuh-Hi and Wen Wang in the form of a mariner's compass. In the system of Fuh-Hi the unalloyed yin stands at the north, the unalloyed yang at the south. The others are so arranged that those which correspond to 1, 2, 3, of Leibnitz’ Binary System proceed from north through west to south in regular order, while 4, 5, 6, start from south taking the corresponding places in the east. In this mathematical arrangement we always have the opposed configurations in opposite quarters, so as to have for each place in every opposite kwa a yang line correspond with a yin line and vice versa; while if they are expressed in numbers of the binary system, their sums are always equal to seven.

7

ARRANGEMENT OF TRIGRAMS ACCORDING TO WEN WANG.

Wen Wang rearranged the trigrams and abandoned entirely the mathematical order attributed to Fuh-Hi. The following quotation from the Yih King evinces the occultism which influenced his thoughts: "All things endowed with life have their origin in chan, as chan corresponds to the east. They are in harmonious existence in siuen because siuen corresponds to the southeast. Li is brightness and renders all things visible to one another, being the kwa which represents the south. Kw‘un is the earth from which all things endowed with life receive food. Tui corresponds to mid-autumn. Ch‘ien is the kwa of the northwest. Kan is water, the kwa of the exact north representing distress, and unto it everything endowed with life reverts. Kan is the kwa of the northeast where living things both rise and terminate." Since this new arrangement is absolutely dependent on occult considerations, the grouping must appear quite arbitrary from the standpoint of pure mathematics. It is natural that with the growth of mysticism this arbitrariness increases and the original system is lost sight of. The yin and yang elements are supposed to be the product of a differentiation from the t‘ai chih, "the grand limit," i.e., the absolute or ultimate reality of all existence, which, containing both yang and yin in potential efficiency, existed in the beginning. The grand limit evolved the pure yang as ether or air, which precipitated the Milky Way, shaping the visible heaven or firmament; while the yin coagulated and sank down to form the earth. But the earth contained enough of the yang to produce heat and life. Some unalloyed yang particles rose to form the sun, while correspondingly

8

other unalloyed yin particles produced the moon, the two great luminaries, which in their turn begot the fixed stars.

9

The Tablet Of Destiny At the beginning of Chinese history stands a tablet which in some mysterious way is supposed to be connected with an explanation of the universe. It has been reconstructed by later Chinese thinkers and is pictured in the hands of Fuh-Hi as an arrangement of the kwa figures preserved in the Yih King. Considering the several traces of Babylonian traditions in ancient Chinese literature and folklore, would it not be justifiable to identify the tablet of Fuh-Hi with the ancient Babylonian "Tablet of Destiny" mentioned in the Enmeduranki Text, a copy of which was discovered in the archives of Asurbanipal 9 and was said to contain the "Mystery of Heaven and Earth?" Enmeduranki, king of Sippar, is the seventh of the aboriginal kings, and he declares that he received the divine tablet "from Anu, [Bel, and Ea]." 10 Chinese sages have their own interpretation of the phrase "the mystery of heaven and earth." They would at once associate the words "heaven" and "earth" with the two opposing principles yang and yin, and the question is whether among the ancient Sumerians there was not a similar tendency prevalent. It seems to be not impossible that the Chinese tablet in the hands of Fuh-Hi is the same as the "Tablet of Destiny" of the Sumerians, and when some Assyriologist has informed himself of the primitive Chinese conception of this mysterious tablet, he may be able to throw some additional light on the subject.

K2486 and K4364; cf. Zimmern, KAT3 533. Anu, Bel, and Ea are the Sumerian trinity. The words Bel and Ea are illegible on the tablet and have been restored by an unequivocal emendation. A doubtful word of the tablet has been translated by "omen" which presupposes that the translator regards the tablet as a means of divination. 9

10

10

Divination An explanation of the universe which derives all distinctions between things, conditions, relations, etc., from differences of mixture, must have appeared very plausible to the ancient sages of China, and we appreciate their acumen when we consider that even to-day advanced Western scientists of reputation attempt to explain the universe as a congeries of force-centers, acting either by attraction or repulsion in analogy to positive and negative electricity. On the ground of this fact the educated Chinese insist with more than a mere semblance of truth, that the underlying idea of the Chinese world-conception is fully borne out and justified by the results of Western science. While it is obvious that the leading idea of the yih is quite scientific, we observe that as soon as the Chinese thinkers tried to apply it a priori without a proper investigation of cause and effect, they abandoned more and more the abstract (and we may say, the purely mathematical) conception of the yang and yin, fell victims to occultism, and used the yih for divination purposes. When we compare the vagaries of the occultism of the yih with the accomplishments of Western science, we may feel very wise and superior, but we should not forget that it was the same fallacious argument of wrong analogy which produced in China the many superstitious practices of the yih, and in the history of our civilisation, astrology, alchemy, and magic. These pseudo-sciences were taken seriously in the world of thought throughout the Middle Ages and began to be abolished only after the Reformation with the rise of genuine astronomy, genuine chemistry, and genuine nature science. If the Chinese are wrong we must remember that there was a time when we made the same mistake. The Chinese outfit for divination consists of fifty stalks called "divining-sticks" and six small oblong blocks to represent the hexagrams. These blocks are not unlike children's building-blocks, but they bear on two adjoining sides incisions dividing the oblong faces into equal sections, so as to give the surface the appearance of a yin figure. The sticks are made of stalks of the milfoil plant (ptarmica sibirica) which is cultivated on the tomb of Confucius and regarded as sacred. Pious people consult the oracle on all important occasions. They are first careful to make themselves clean, and then assume a calm and reverential attitude of mind. The diviner then takes out one stick and places it in a holder on the center of the table. This single stalk is called "the grand limit" (t‘ai chih), the ultimate cause of existence. He next lifts the forty-nine remaining sticks above his forehead with his right hand, and divides them at random into two parts, at the same time holding his breath and concentrating his thoughts on the question to be answered.

11

A DIVINATION OUTFIT. The sticks in the right hand are then placed on the table, and one is taken out from them and placed between the fourth and fifth fingers of the left hand. The three groups are now called heaven, earth and man. The left-hand group is then counted with the right hand in cycles of eight, and the number of the last group yields the lower trigram of the answer, called the inner complement. This number is counted after the oldest order of the eight trigrams, viz., that of Fuh-Hi corresponding to the inverted binary arrangement. The upper trigram, called the outer complement, is determined in the same way. After the hexagram is determined, one special line is selected by the aid of the divining-sticks in the same way as before, except that instead of counting in cycles of eight, the diviner now counts in cycles of six. Having thus established the hexagram and a special line in it, he next consults the Yih King which contains a definite meaning for each hexagram as a whole, and also for each single line; and this meaning is made the basis of the divine answer. It is obvious that this complicated process presupposes a simpler one which, however, must have been in use in pre-historic times, for as far as Chinese history dates back the divining stalks and the kwa system are referred to in the oldest documents.

12

Urim And Thummim The Chinese method of divination may help us to understand the Urim and Thummim of the Hebrews which are so ancient that details of their method are practically forgotten. We notice first that the Urim and Thummim are two sets of symbols apparently forming a contrast similar to that of yin and yang. It is not probable that they were a set of twelve gems representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Secondly, like the yin and yang, the two sets must have been a plurality of elements and not only two symbols as is sometimes assumed; and thirdly, they served the purpose of divination, for they are referred to in connection with the ephod which must have had something to do with the determining oracle. The Urim and Thummim 11 are translated in the Septuagint 12 by "manifestation and truth," or, as it has been rendered in English, "light and perfection." It appears that the vowel in the first word is wrong, and we ought to read Orim, which is the plural form of Or, "light," and might be translated by "the shining things." If Thummim is to be derived from the root THaMaM, its vocalisation ought to be thamim (not thummim) and would mean "the completed things." We cannot doubt that the Urim and Thummim form a contrast, and if the Urim represent "light" or yang, the Thummim would represent "darkness" or yin, the former being compared to the rise of the sun, the latter to the consummation of the day. Sometimes the answer of the Urim and Thummim is between two alternatives (as in 1 Sam. xiv. 36 ff), some times a definite reply is given which would presuppose a more or less complicated system similar to the answers recorded in the Yih King. In the history of Saul (1 Sam. x. 22) the answer comes out, "Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff," and in the time of the Judges (Judges xx. 28) the question is asked about the advisability of a raid against the tribe of Benjamin, and the oracle declares, "Go up; for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand." On other occasions the oracle does not answer at all, 13 and its silence is interpreted as due to the wrath of God. The answer received by consulting the Urim and Thummim was regarded as the decision of God, and was actually called the voice of God. This view seems to have led in later times, when the process of divination was no longer understood, to the assumption that Yahveh's voice could be heard in the Holy of Holies, a misinterpretation which is plainly recognisable in the story of the high priest Eleazar (Num. vii. 89).

ִ ָ‫ו ְהַ תֻּ מִּ ים ה‬. ‫אוּרים‬ δή λωσις καὶ ἀ λή θεια. 13 See Sam. xiv. 37 and xxviii. 6. 11

12

13

The Urim and Thummim are frequently mentioned in close connection with the ephod which has been the subject of much discussion. It is commonly assumed that the word is used in two senses, first as an article of apparel and secondly as a receptacle for Urim and Thummim. Unless we can find an interpretation which shows a connection between the two, we can be sure not to have rightly understood the original significance of this mysterious article. The description of the ephod in Exodus ii. 28, (an unquestionably postexilic passage) is irreconcilable with the appearance, use or function which this curious object must have possessed according to our historical sources, and the latter alone can be regarded as reliable. After considering all the passages in which the ephod is mentioned we have come to the conclusion that it was a pouch worn by the diviner who hung it around his loins using the string as a girdle. The original meaning of ephod is "girdle" and the verb aphad means "to put on, to gird." David, a strong believer in the Urim and Thummim, danced before the Lord "girded with an ephod," and we must assume that according to the primitive fashion the diviner was otherwise naked. Hence he incurred the contempt of his wife Michal whose piety did not go so far as the king's in worshiping Yahveh in this antiquated manner. The main significance of the ephod in connection with the Urim and Thummim was to serve as a receptacle for the lots, and so it may very well have become customary to make it of a more costly and enduring material in the form of a vase. This will explain those passages in which the ephod is spoken of as being made of gold and standing on the altar, as where we are informed that the sword of Goliath had been deposited as a trophy wrapped in a mantle "behind the ephod." There are other passages in which "ephod" seems to be identical with an idol, but if our interpretation be accepted there is no difficulty in this, for the receptacle of the Urim and Thummim may very well have come to be regarded as an object of worship. It is difficult to say whether the ephod is identical with the khoshen, the breastplate of the high priest, which in later postexilic usage was ornamented with twelve precious stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel. It is sure, however, that the Urim and Thummim cannot be identified with the twelve jewels, and the Hebrew words plainly indicate that they were placed inside as into a pouch. In Lev. xiii. 8 the verb nathan el, "to put into," is used and not nathan ‘al, "to put upon." The breastplate of the high priest seems to be the same as what is called in Babylonian history the "tables of judgment," which also were worn on the breast. But the identification does not seem convincing. We would have to assume that the ephod was first worn around the loins after the fashion of a loin cloth and that later in a more civilised age when the priests were dressed in sacerdotal robes, it was suspended from the shoulders and hung upon the breast. After Solomon's time there is no longer any historical record of the use of the Urim and Thummim. It seems certain that in the post-exilic age the rabbis knew no more about it than we do to-day and regretted the loss of this special evidence of grace. They supposed their high priests must be no longer fit to consult the oracle (Esdras ii. 63; Neh. vii. 65) and Josephus states (Antiq. iii. 8–9) that two hundred years

14

before his time, it had ceased. According to common tradition, however, it was never reintroduced into the temple service after the exile. While Josephus identified the Urim and Thummim with the twelve jewels in the breastplate of the high priest, Philo 14 claims that they were pictures exhibited in the embroidery of the breastplate representing the symbols of light and truth. His conception is untenable, but it is noteworthy because his view seems to be influenced by his knowledge of the sacerdotal vestments of Egypt. We are told that the high priest in his capacity as judge used to wear a breastplate bearing the image of truth or justice. One such shield has been found, upon which were two figures recognisable by the emblems on their heads: one with a solar disk as Ra, the sun-god or light, the other with a feather, as Maat or truth. If the Urim and Thummim were not plural and were not contrasts, and if we did not know too well that they were placed in an ephod, Philo's interpretation would have much to recommend itself. Perhaps he and also the Septuagint were under Egyptian influence. While we do not believe that the Urim and Thummim were exactly like the yang and yin we are fully convinced that the Chinese method of divination throws some light upon the analogous Hebrew practice and will help us to understand the meaning of the terms. If the two systems are historically connected, which is not quite impossible, we must assume that they were differentiated while yet in their most primitive forms.

14

De vita Mosis, p. 670 C; 671, D.E.; De Monarchia, p. 824, A.

15

P‘An-Ku The basic idea of the yih philosophy was so convincing that it almost obliterated the Taoist cosmogony of P‘an-Ku who is said to have chiseled the world out of the rocks of eternity. Though the legend is not held in high honor by the literati, it contains some features of interest which have not as yet been pointed out and deserve at least an incidental comment. P‘an-Ku is written in two ways: one (

) means in literal translations, "basin

ancient," the other "basin solid." ( ) Both are homophones, i.e., they are pronounced the same way; and the former may be preferred as the original and correct spelling. Obviously the name means "aboriginal abyss," or in the terser German, Urgrund, and we have reason to believe it to be a translation of the Babylonian Tiamat, "the Deep." The Chinese legend tells us that P‘an-Ku's bones changed to rocks; his flesh to earth; his marrow, teeth and nails to metals; his hair to herbs and trees; his veins to rivers; his breath to wind; and his four limbs became pillars marking the four corners of the world,—which is a Chinese version not only of the Norse myth of the Giant Ymir, but also of the Babylonian story of Tiamat. Illustrations of P‘an-Ku represent him in the company of supernatural animals that symbolise old age or immortality, viz., the tortoise and the crane; sometimes also the dragon, the emblem of power, and the phenix, the emblem of bliss. * * * When the earth had thus been shaped from the body of P‘an-Ku, we are told that three great rulers successively governed the world: first the celestial, then the terrestrial, and finally the human sovereign. They were followed by Yung-Ch‘eng and Sui-Jen (i.e., fire-man) the latter being the Chinese Prometheus, who brought the fire down from heaven and taught man its various uses. The Prometheus myth is not indigenous to Greece, where it received the artistically classical form under which it is best known to us. The name, which by an ingenious afterthought is explained as "the fore thinker," is originally the Sanskrit pramantha 15 and means "twirler" or "fire-stick," being the rod of hard wood which produced fire by rapid rotation in a piece of soft wood.

See Steinthal's "The original Form of the Legend of Prometheus" which forms and appendix to Goldziher's Mythology Among the Hebrews, translated by Russell Martineau, London. 1877. Mantha is derived from the same root as the German word mangeln, "to torture," and one who forces (viz. Agni, the god of fire) is called prama-thyu-s "the fire-robber." The Sanskrit name in its Greek form is Prometheus, whose nature of fire-god is still recognisable in the legend. 15

16

We cannot deny that the myth must have been known also in Mesopotamia, the main center of civilisation between India and Greece, and it becomes probable that the figure Sui-Jen has been derived from the same prototype as the Greek Prometheus.

17

The Five Elements Occultism dominated the development of thought during the Middle Ages of China not less than in Europe, and here again in the conception of the elements we find traces of a common origin in both the East and West. The Chinese speak of five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth; while, according to the ancient sages of Hellas and India, there are but four: water, fire, earth, and air. This latter view also (although in a later age) has migrated to China, where it is commonly accepted among the Buddhists, but has been modified in so far as ether has been superadded so as to make the elements of the Buddhist-Chinese conception equal in number to the older enumeration which we may call the Taoist view.

DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ELEMENTS. [The proportions of the several heights are deemed important, and are as follows: the square, to; the circle, 9; the triangle, 7; the crescent, 2; the gem, 6. When built in the form of a stupa, the square changes into a cube, the circle into a globe, the triangle into a four-sided pyramid, and the crescent and gem also into solid bodies. The globe retains its proper dimensions but is, as it were, pressed into the cube and the pyramid; the pyramid is frequently changed into an artistically carved roof. The Mediæval European conception is obviously not original.]

18

That the Buddhist conception of the five elements has been imported to China from India, is proved beyond question by the fact that the Chinese diagrams are frequently marked with their Sanskrit terms. It is strange that the symbolic diagrams are more nearly identical than their interpretations. Earth is represented by a square, water by a sphere, fire by a triangle, air by a crescent, and ether by a gem surmounting the whole.

TIBETAN STUPA. [This illustration is reproduced from The East of Asia, (June 1905), an illustrated magazine printed in Shanghai, China. The monument represents the five elements, but its shape is no longer exact. The upper part of the cube shows a formation of steps, not unlike the Babylonian zikkurat or staged tower. The globe is no longer a true sphere, and the pyramid has been changed into a pointed cone, so slender as to be almost a pole. The monument is probably used as a mausoleum]

19

GATEWAY TO BUDDHIST MONASTERY, PEKIN. A further development of the Stupa of the five elements. [The cube has been changed into a roofed house; the sphere has assumed the shape of a Chinese cap, the pyramid is adorned with a peculiar ornament imitative of a cover, and the crescent has been changed into a flower-like knob, as has also the gem which surmounts the whole.]

The two upper symbols are conceived as one in the treatises of the mediæval alchemy of Europe, and serve there as the common symbol of air. The symbol ether is commonly called by its Sanskrit term mani, which literally means "gem," and in popular imagination is endowed with magic power. The five elements are also represented by memorial poles which on the Chinese All Souls' Day are erected at the tombs of the dead, on which occasion the grave is ornamented with lanterns, and a torch is lit at evening. All over the interior of Asia so far as it is dominated by Chinese civilisation, we find stupas built in the shape of the symbols of the five elements, and their meaning is interpreted in the sense that the body of the dead has been reduced to its original elements. We must not, however, interpret this idea in a materialistic sense, for it is meant to denote an absorption into the All and a return to the origin and source of life. It is noticeable that this reverence of the elements as divine is a well-known feature of ancient Mazdaism, the faith of the Persians. and is frequently alluded to by Herodotus in his description of Persian customs. The desire not to desecrate the

20

elements causes the Persians to regard burial and cremation as offensive. They deposit their dead in the Tower of Silence, leaving them there to the vultures, whereby the pollution by the corpse either of earth or of fire is avoided. The Taoist view of the elements is different from the Buddhist conception, and we may regard it as originally and typically Chinese. At any rate it is full of occultism and constitutes an important chapter in the mystic lore of China. According to this view, the five elements are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. ( ) The knowledge of these elements, legend tells us, is somehow connected with the marks on the shell of the sacred tortoise which, having risen from the river Loh, appeared to Ts‘ang-Hieh (Mayers, Ch. R. M., I, 756). Tsou-Yen, a philosopher who lived in the fourth century B.C., wrote a treatise on cosmogony in which the five elements play an important part (Mayers, Ch. R. M., I, 746). The five elements also figure prominently in "The Great Plan," 16 which is an ancient imperial manifesto on the art of good government. There it is stated that like everything else they are produced by the yang and yin, being the natural results of that twofold breath which will operate favorably or unfavorably upon the living or the dead according to the combination in which they are mixed. All misfortunes are said to arise from a disturbance of the five elements in a given situation, and thus the Chinese are very careful not to interfere with nature or cause any disturbance of natural conditions. We are told in "The Great Plan" 17 that "in olden times K‘wan dammed up the inundating waters and so disarranged the five elements. The Emperor of Heaven was aroused to anger and would not give him the nine divisions of the Great Plan. In this way the several relations of society were disturbed, and [for punishment] he was kept in prison until he died." K‘wan’s misfortune has remained a warning example to the Chinese. In their anxiety not to disturb the proper mixture in which the five elements should be combined they pay great attention to those pseudo-scientific professors who determine the prevalence of the several elements, not by studying facts but by interpreting some of the most unessential features, for instance, the external shape of rocks and plants. Pointed crags mean "fire"; gently rounded mountains, "metal"; cones and sugar-loaf rocks represent trees, and mean "wood"; and square plateaus denote "earth"; but if the plateau be irregular in shape so as to remind one of the outlines of a lake, it stands for "water." It would lead us too far to enter into further details; at the same time it would be difficult to lay down definite rules, as there is much scope left to the play of the imagination, and it is certain that, while doctors may disagree in the Western world, the geomancers of China have still more opportunity for a great divergence of opinion. The elements are supposed to conquer one another according to a definite law. We are told that wood conquers earth, earth conquers water, water conquers fire, fire conquers metal, and metal conquers wood. This rule which is preserved by Liu An of the second century B.C. is justified by Pan Ku, a historian of the second century A. D., compiler of the books of the era of the Han dynasty, as follows:

16 17

A chapter in the Shu King, translated into English by James Legge. S.B.E., vol. III, 137. See S.B.E., III, 139.

21

"By wood can be produced fire, by fire can be produced earth [in other words, wood through fire is changed to ashes]; from earth can be produced metal [i.e., by mining]; from metal can be produced water [they can be changed through heat to a liquid state]; from water can be produced wood [plants]. When fire heats metal, it makes it liquid [i.e., it changes it into the state of the element water]. THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND THEIR INTERRELATION. ELEMENTS PARENT CHILD ENEMY FRIEND PLANET water's

metal

wood

earth

fire

Mercury

fire's

wood

earth

water

metal

Mars

wood's

water

fire

metal

earth

Jupiter

metal's

earth

water

fire

wood

Venus

earth's

fire

metal

wood

water

Saturn

When water destroys fire it operates adversely upon the very element by which it is produced. Fire produces earth, yet earth counteracts water. No one can do anything against these phenomena, for the power which causes the five elements to counteract each other is according to the natural dispensation of heaven and earth. Large quantities prevail over small quantities, hence water conquers fire. Spirituality prevails over materiality, the non-substance over substance, thus fire conquers metal; hardness conquers softness, hence metal conquers wood; density is superior to incoherence, therefore, wood conquers earth; solidity conquers insolidity, therefore earth conquers water." Besides being interrelated as parent and offspring, or as friend and enemy, the five elements are represented by the five planets, so that water corresponds to Mercury, fire to Mars, wood to Jupiter, metal to Venus, and earth to Saturn. The yih system being cosmic in its nature, has been used by the Chinese sages to represent the universe. The first attempt in this direction is Fuh-Hi's diagram in compass form representing the four quarters and four intermediary directions. The system was changed by Wen Wang who rearranged the eight trigrams but retained the fundamental idea. It was supposed to have been revealed to Fuh-Hi on the back of a tortoise, but later sages superadded to the fundamental idea further characteristics of the universe, according to their more complicated knowledge of science and occultism.

22

The Mystic Tablet

THE MYSTIC TABLET. 18 We reproduce here a mystic tablet of Tibetan workmanship, which, however, reflects the notions prevailing over the whole Chinese empire. The kwa tablet lies on the back of the tortoise, presumably the same as was supposed to have been present when P‘an-Ku chiseled the world from out of the rocks of eternity—and certainly the same tortoise which made its appearance in the Loh river to reveal the secret of the kwa to Fuh-Hi. In the center of our kwa tablet is the magic square written in Tibetan characters, which is the same as that represented in dots in the so-called "Writing of Loh." 19 It is also depicted as resting in its turn on the carapace of a smaller tortoise. This magic square is surrounded by the twelve animals of the duodenary cycle, representing both the twelve double-hours of the day, and the twelve months of the year. In the left lower center is represented the rat which, in passing around to the left, is followed in order by the ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog, and boar. The symbols of the days are: a sun for Sunday, a crescent for Monday; a red eye for Tuesday (red light of the planet Mars); a hand holding a coin for Wednesday (indicating the function of the god Mercury); a thunderbolt for Thursday (sacred to Marduk, Jupiter, Thor, the thunder-god); a buckle for Friday (day of Frigga or Venus); and a bundle for Saturday.

The table has been reproduced from Waddell's Buddhism of Tibet, p. 453. Students who take the trouble to enter into further details are warned that in Waddell's table, by some strange mistake, the position of the trigrams tui and chan, in the east and in the west, has been reversed, a mistake which we have corrected in our reproduction. 19 See the author's pamphlet, Chinese Philosophy, p. 19. 18

23

A TYPICAL CHINESE GRAVE. [The dead are protected against the evil influence of unfavorably mixed elements in the surroundings of the grave by a horseshoe-shaped wall.]

The duodenary cycle of animals is surrounded by various emblems indicating lucky and unlucky days. Among these we can discover gems, buckles, thunderbolts, various limbs of the body, triangles, five-spots, links of a chain, luck symbols, and swastikas. They surround the eight trigrams which are placed according to the arrangement of Wen Wang. The kwa in the lower part represents north and winter; in the upper part, the south and summer; toward the right, west and autumn; and toward the left, east and spring. The kwa in the lower right hand corner represents heaven; in the lower left, mountain; the upper left, air or wind; and in the right upper corner, earth.

24

Systems Of Enumeration The twelve animals which are pictured on our Tibetan tablet are a curious relic of prehistoric civilisation. They represent at once the twelve months, the twelve divisions of the zodiac, and the twelve double hours of the day. Kindred systems of designating duodecimal divisions of the cosmos, both in time and space, by a cycle of animals can be traced in Babylon, Egypt, primitive America, and modern Europe, where to the present day the constellations along the ecliptic are divided into twelve groups, called the Zodiac, or Thierkreis, i.e., the animal cycle. The duodenary cycle is an ancient method of counting, expressed by animal names, a custom which has only been abolished in Japan since the Great Reform under the influence of Western civilisation. Up to that time people spoke there of "the rat hour," "the ox hour," "the tiger hour," etc., and these terms had no other significance than in Western countries, one o'clock, two o'clock, or three o'clock. The twelve animals are affiliated with the twelve branches, so-called, which practically possess the same significance, being also a duodenary cycle. The twelve branches may be summarily characterised as the twelve months, beginning with the eleventh in which the yang principle begins to prepare for its appearance in the new year, and ending in the tenth month of the ensuing year. The twelve branches are correlated not only to the twelve animals, but also to the five elements as indicated in our diagram. The fifth element "earth" is missing because it represents the center around which the twelve branches are grouped.

THE DUODENARY CYCLE. THE TWELVE BRANCHES

THE TWELVE ANIMALS

NO. NAME TRANSCRIPTION USUAL SIGNIFICANCE SYMBOL MEANING IN THE DUODENARY CYCLE 1

tze

child

Regeneration of vegetation

ELEMENT NAME MEANING TO WHICH RELATED

Yang stirring underground

rat water

2

chu

cord

Relaxation; untying a knot

Hand halfopened

ox

3

yin

to revere

Awakening of life.

Wriggling earthworm

tiger wood

4

mao

a period of Plants breaking time through the soil

Opening a gate

hare

25

5

chen

vibration

First vegetation; Thunderstorm seed-time

dragon

6

ssu

end

Supremacy of Yang

Snake

serpent

7

wu

to oppose

Yin reasserting itself

Female principle in fire hidden growth

horse

8

wei

not yet

Taste of fruit

Tree in full bloom

goat

9

shen

to expand

Yin growing strong

Clasped hands

monkey

10

yu

ripe

Completion

Cider or winepress metal

cock

11

shu

guard

Exhaustion

Yang withdrawing underground

dog

12

hai

[Kernel] 20. Kernel or root

Yang in touch with Yin

water

boar

There is another system of counting, which however is decimal, and is called "the ten stems"; and it appears that it is simply an older method of counting the months of the year. In their original here also the explanation of the several symbols has reference to the progress of the year. It is not impossible that the decimal system was the original and indigenous Chinese method of counting, while the duodecimal system was imported at a very early date from Accad or Sumer, the country of the founders of Babylonian civilisation.

THE TEN STEMS. NO. NAME TRANSCRIPTION SIGNIFICANCE

ELEMENT TO WHICH RELATED

1

chia

Yang moving in the East sprouting.

fir tree

2

yi

Plant growing in a crooked bamboo way; tendril; twig.

bamboo

wood

20 This character has now no meaning except in its relation to the duodenary cycle. Formerly it denoted kernel, but now the character for tree is added to give that meaning.

26

3

ping

Growth in southern heat; bloom.

torch-flame

4

ting

Vegetation in warm season; summer.

lamp-light

5

wu

Exuberance; surcease of life.

mountains

6

ki

Wintry sleep; hibernation.

level ground

7

keng

Fullness of crops; the West; autumn fruit.

weapon cauldron

fire

earth

metal

8

sin

Ripened fruit and its flavor; supposed to be metallic.

9

jen

Yin at the height of its function; billow pregnancy.

10

kwei

Water absorbed by earth; Yang preparing for spring.

unruffled stream

water

The existence of these two systems suggests the occurrence of a calendar reform such as was introduced in Rome under Numa Pompilius, and we are confronted with the strange coincidence that in China as well as in Rome the two additional months (January and February) were inserted at the beginning as a result of which we call even to-day the last month of the year December, i.e., "the tenth." We must leave the question as to the plausibility of a historical connection to specialists familiar with the influence of Babylonian thought on the rest of the world. It is not impossible that a Babylonian (perhaps Sumerian) calendar reform traveled in both directions, rapidly toward the more civilised East, and very slowly toward the West. producing in these remote countries and at different times this startling coincidence of a similar calendar reform. We might parenthetically state that the original meaning of the ten stems and twelve branches has practically been lost sight of, and both systems have become simply series of figures, the former from one to ten, the latter from one to twelve; while their symbolical relations, the former with the elements, the latter with the twelve animals, are of importance merely to occultists. The ten stems are also called "the ten mothers," and the twelve branches, "the twelve children." That the former is the older arrangement appears from another name which is "the ten hoary characters. By a combination of the ten stems with the twelve branches in groups of two in which the former are repeated six times and the latter five times, a series of sixty is produced which is commonly called by sinologists the sexagenary cycle, and is used for naming years as well as days. The invention of the sexagenary cycle and its application to the calendar is attributed to Nao the Great, one of the prime ministers

27

of Hwang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, 21 who had solicited this work in the sixtieth year of his reign. Nao the Great, having accomplished .the task, set the beginning of the new era in the succeeding year, 2637 B.C. Accordingly we live now in the seventysixth cycle which began in 1863 and will end in 1922. A convenient method of translating the properly Chinese names of the sexagenary cycle would be to render the two characters by their equivalent relations to the twelve animals and the five elements, so as to speak of the "fir-rat" year, the "bamboo-ox" year, the "torch-tiger" year, etc.

The Sexagenary Cycle

21

According to traditional chronology, Hwang Ti reigned from 2697 to 2597 B.C.

28

Feng-Shui

(

)

Chinese occultism has been reduced to a system in an occult science (or better, pseudo-science) called feng-shui which, literally translated, means "wind and water," and the two words combined denote atmospheric influence, or climate. As a science feng-shui means a study of conditions, spiritual as well as physical, and the average Chinese is very anxious to locate the site of graves, temples, public and private edifices so as to insure the auspicious influence of their surroundings. Belief in the efficiency of feng-shui is very strong, and consequently its scholars play an important part in public and private life. The science of feng-shui is fantastical, but its advocates claim the authority of the ancient Yih King, which in chapter XIII, 1 to 12, reads as follows: "By looking up in order to contemplate the heavenly bodies, and by looking down to examine into the natural influences of the earth, man may acquire a knowledge of the cause of darkness and light." Feng-shui is also called ti-li (

) and k‘an-yü. (

) Ti-li may fitly be translated by "geomancy." Li, frequently translated by "reason" or "rational principle," means a system of the dominant maxims which govern nature. Ti means "the earth" and so the two together signify "the divining art as to terrestrial conditions." K‘an-yü, translated literally, means "canopy chariot," but k‘an (canopy) refers to the sky and yü (chariot) refers to the earth as the vehicle in which all living beings are carried. The term "canopy chariot" then means the art which is occupied with the conditions of man's habitation. The professional diviners who practise feng-shui are called sien-sheng, ( ) "the elder born," which is a title of respect and has been translated by "professor." They are called eitherfeng-shui sien-sheng, "professors of divination," or ti-li sien-sheng, "geomancers," or k‘an-yü sien-sheng, "masters of the canopied chariot." The application of the feng-shui is naturally very loose, and two different professors may easily come to opposite results according to their individual interpretation of the correct balance of the mixture of the elements and the several spiritual influences that may be discovered in special localities. Diviners use for their geomantic investigations a peculiar instrument with a mariner's compass in the center the purpose of which De Groot explains as follows: "The chief use of the geomantic compass is to find the line in which, according to the almanac, a grave ought to be made, or a house or temple built. Indeed, in this most useful of all books it is every year decided between which two points of the compass the lucky line for that year lies, and which point is absolutely inauspicious. This circumstance not only entails a postponement of many burials, seeing it is not always possible to find a grave, answering to all the geomantic requirements, in the lucky line of the year; but it regularly compels the owners of houses and temples to

29

postpone repairs or the rebuilding of the same until a year in which the line wherein their properties are situate is declared to be lucky. Many buildings for this reason alone are allowed to fall to ruin for years, and it is no rare thing to see whole streets simultaneously demolished and rebuilt in years auspicious to the direction in which they were placed." 22 Considering the sacrifices which are expected of a good son in the selection of the site and the general equipment of the parental graves, we can easily understand that the burden of ancestral worship is very heavy. While we must admire the filial piety of the Chinese, we regret to see the uselessness of their devotion and the waste to which it leads. It is refreshing, however, to observe that the general rule is not without exceptions and we find that there are sensible men who raise their voices in protest. Ts‘ui Yuen of the second century, a mandarin of high position, died at Loh-Yang, the imperial metropolis. According to the customary ritual, his son should have transported his remains to his place of birth for burial in the family cemetery, but Ts‘ui Yuen left these instructions with his son Shih, which we quote from De Groot (loc. cit., pp. 837–8): "Human beings borrow from heaven and earth the breath upon which they live, and at the end of their terrestrial career they restitute the etherial parts of that breath to heaven, giving their bones back to earth; consequently, what part of the earth can be unsuitable for concealing their skeletons? You must not take me back to my place of birth, nor may you accept any funeral presents, neither offerings of mutton or pork." The Chinese authority from which Professor De Groot quotes, adds: 23 "Respectfully receiving these his last orders, Shih kept the corpse in Loh-Yang and there buried it." The spirit of Ts‘ui Yuen has not died out, as is attested by a satirical poem which is current to-day, and which humorously points out the inconsistency of those mantics or soothsayers who know all the conditions of the four quarters and promise their patrons to show them (for a due consideration) a spot so auspicious for a grave that the spirit of their ancestor will bestow upon members of the family the dignity of kings. If that were true, why have they not buried their own parents there? The poem in the original Chinese is as follows:

ti li hsien sheng kwan shuo huang chih nan chih pei chih hsi tung

In his voluminous work The Religious System of China, Vol. III, Bk. s. "Disposal of the Dead." Part 3. "The Grave," p. 974. 23 Books of the Later Han Dynasty, Chap. 82 line 15. 22

30

shan chung je yu wang hou ti he pu hsin lai tsang nai weng. 24 This translation imitates the original as closely as possible in metre and meaning: Trash these mantics manifest, Point out south, north, east and west; Know graves royalty bestowing Yet their own sires there not rest.

In the early Chinese form, the final words of the first, second, and fourth lines were all pronounced as if ending in ong. Consequently, although the individual words have changed their form, the series is considered as containing one rhyme and, according to Chinese rules of rhyming, is still so used in verse.

24

31

Lo-Pan Collectors of curios may have seen in Chinese stores the instrument called lo-pan ( ) (net-tablet), or lo-king ( ) (net-standard), or pan-shih ( ) (disknorm). This is the geomancer's compass which incorporates the sum-total of fengshui.

LO-PAN OR NET TABLET. [The original is in the possession of Prof. Friedrich Hirth.]

The Chinese salesman who showed the instrument at my request, a man who must have lived half his life or more in the United States, expressed great respect for it and tried to impress me with the fact that it contained the deepest wisdom of the ages. The lo-pan is a disk of lacquered wood, mostly of yellow color, carrying in its center under glass, a small mariner's compass. Some of the characters written in the surrounding circles are red, and some are black. Different copies differ in details, but all are practically the same in their general and most characteristic features. The concentric circles of the net tablet are called ts‘eng, ( "strata."

) i.e., "tiers," "stories," or

32

The mariner's compass in the center represents t‘ai chih, ( ) "the great origin." The first circle contains the eight trigrams in the arrangement of Fuh-Hi, which denote the eight directions of the compass and the virtues and properties attributed to them. The second circle contains the numerals from one to nine in the arrangement of the magic square, the five being omitted as it belongs in the center. Accordingly the sum of each two opposite figures always makes ten. The third row represents twenty-four celestial constellations, each expressed in two characters, so that three names are registered in each octant. The fourth circle represents in occult terms twenty-four divisions of the compass. Southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest are written in their kwa names, while the rest are designated alternately by the ten stems and twelve branches; two of the stems are omitted, however, because referring to the element earth, they are supposed to belong in the center. If we write the ten stems as numerals from one to ten, the twelve branches in italic letters from a to m, and the four kwa names in Roman capitals A to D, we have the following arrangement, beginning in the southeast: A f 3 g 4 h B i 7 k 8 l C m 9 a 10 b D c 1 d 2 e. This arrangement is ancient for it is quoted as an established part of the divining method by Sze-Ma Ch‘ien in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Historical Records, which is devoted to the art of divination. The fifth circle is divided into seventy-two parts each containing two characters of the sexagenary cycle, written one above the other, and arranged in groups of five divided by blank spaces. If we again express the ten stems in figures and the twelve branches in italics, the scheme (starting with the first branch a standing in the north) reads as follows: 13579

246810 35791 468102 57913 681024

aaaaa

bbbbb

ccccc

ddddd

eeeee fffff

7 9 1 3 5 8 10 2 4 6

9 1 3 5 7 10 2 4 6 8

1 3 5 7 9 2 4 6 8 10

ggggg

iiiii

lllll

hhhhh

kkkkk

mmmmm

In the sixth row each octant is divided into three sections, each having five compartments in the second and fourth of which appear two characters of the sexagenary cycle. Accordingly they are arranged in the following order, the blanks being expressed by zeros: 03070 03070 04080 04080 03070

03070

0a0a0 0a0a0 0b0b0 0b0b0 0c0c0

0c0c0

33

04080 04080 03070 03070 04080

04080

0d0d0 0d0d0 0e0e0 0e0e0 0f0f0

0f0f0

03070 03070 04080 04080 03070

03070

0g0g0 0g0g0 0h0h0 0h0h0 0i0i0

0i0i0

04080 04080 03070 03070 04080

04080

0k0k0 0k0k0 01010

01010

0m0m0 0m0m0

The third and fourth stems refer to fire and the seventh and eighth to metal. The seventh row is devoted to the eight stars of the Dipper, which in Chinese folklore is regarded with much awe, because this most conspicuous constellation revolves around the polar star and seems to resemble the hand of a watch on the great celestial dial of the universe. We must remember that the seventh star is double, its luminous satellite being visible even without the assistance of a telescope. If we represent the names of the eight stars by numbers from one to eight, their arrangement beginning with the southwest is as follows: 1 8 5 7 4 4 6 2 3 1 5 7 8 1 3 2 6 6 4 7 5 8 3 2. Beyond the seventh circle we have a double line which divides the seven inner rows from the nine outer ones. The first of these, the eighth circle, is divided into twelve sections each having three characters, the central ones written in red being the sun and moon together with the five elements twice repeated. Beginning in the south with the character sun, and turning toward the left, they read as follows: sun, moon, water, metal, fire, wood, earth, earth, wood, fire, metal, water. The ninth row, consisting of twelve sections, represents the twelve branches in regular succession, beginning in the north with the first and turning toward the right. They coincide in position with the twelve branches as they appear in the fourth row. The tenth row is a repetition of the fifth, with the exception that here the characters are distributed evenly over the whole circle. The eleventh row consists of numerals only. The circle is divided into twelve sections, each being subdivided into five compartments which contain the following scheme repeated twelve times: | 37 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 73 |. The twelfth row is inscribed with the names of the sub-divisions of the four seasons, beginning with early spring above the unalloyed yin and turning toward the right.

34

SPRING.

AUTUMN.

Beginning of Spring.

Beginning of Autumn.

Rain Water.

Limit of Heat.

Resurrection of hibernating Insects.

White Dew.

Vernal Equinox.

Autumnal Equinox.

Pure Brightness.

Cold Dew.

Rains over the Grain.

Descent of Hoar Frost.

SUMMER.

WINTER.

Beginning of Summer.

Beginning of Winter.

Grain filling a little.

Little Snow.

Grain in Ear.

Heavy Snow.

Summer Solstice.

Winter Solstice.

Slight Heat.

Little Cold.

Great Heat.

Severe Cold.

The thirteenth row is divided into seventy-two equal parts, which are left blank. The fifteenth row is divided into three hundred and sixty equal blanks representing the degrees of a circle which method of division the Chinese as well as we of the Occident have inherited from the Babylonians. The sixteenth row contains the names of the twenty-eight constellations together with the number of degrees which each covers. These degrees are specifically marked in the fourteenth circle in which the odd numbers only are expressed. The series starting in the southeast and turning toward the right, is as follows:

35

1. The horn, 11°; in Virgo. 2. The neck, 11°; in Virgo. 3. The bottom, 18°; in Libra. 4. The room, 5°; in Scorpio. 5. The heart, 8°; in Scorpio. 6. The tail, 15°; in Scorpio. 7. The sieve, 9°; in Sagittarius. 8. The measure, 24°; in Sagittarius. 9. The ox, 8°; in Aries and Sagittarius. 10. The damsel, 11°; in Aquarius. 11. The void, 10°; in Aquarius and Equuleus. 12. Danger, 20°; in Aquarius and Pegasus. 13. The house, 16°; in Pegasus. 14. The wall, 13°; in Pegasus and Andromeda. 15. Astride, 11°; in Andromeda and Pisces. 16. The hump, 13°; in Aries. 17. The stomach, 12°; in Musca Borealis. 18. The Pleiades, 9°. (In Chinese mao.) 25 19. The end, 15°; in Hyades and Taurus. 20. The bill or beak, 1°; in Orion. 21. Crossing, or mixture, 11°; in Orion. 22. The well or pond, 31°; in Gemini. 23. The ghost, 5°; in Cancer. 24. The willow, 17°; in Hydra. 25. The star, 8°; in Hydra. 26. The drawn bow, 18°; in Hydra. 27. The wing, 17°; in Crater and Hydra. The Chinese term mao does not possess any other significance except the name of this constellation. This character is unfortunately misprinted in Mayers, Chinese Reader's Manual. It is correct in the enumeration of Professor De Groot, loc. cit., p. 972. 25

36

28. The back of a carriage seat, 13°; in Corvus.

37

The Mariner's Compass A Chinese Invention

EUROPEAN COMPASS. (Presumably Italian.) The two plates are hinged together and fold upon one another in the same way as the European compasses shown in the following pages.

The lo-pan or net tablet unquestionably serves superstitious purposes, but we must bear in mind that much genuine science is incorporated in many of its details, and the latter no doubt has given countenance to the former. This again is according to the general law of the evolution of mankind and finds its parallel in the history of European civilisation. We must bear in mind that the great occultists of the Middle Ages, Paracelsus. Albertus Magnus, and men like them down to Agrippa of Nettesheim, were the most powerful intellects of their day; and though they were deeply entangled in mysticism, much of their life's work was devoted to the furtherance of genuine scientific enquiry.

38

CHINESE POCKET COMPASS

In the Chinese Middle Ages the leading thinkers were of the same stamp, and so it is natural that much of genuine astronomy and the results of accurate observation of the stars are incorporated in the lo-pan. The most obvious part of it which must have appeared extremely mystifying in former centuries was, as the Chinese call it, the south-pointing needle—the mariner's compass—situated in the center of the lo-pan.

39

EUROPEAN COMPASS. (Presumably Nuremberg.)

The south-pointing needle is an ancient Chinese invention which for some time seems to have been forgotten. Professor Friedrich Hirth of Columbia University has privately communicated to me facts which prove that it was employed in ancient times by travelers through the desert, that the invention was lost and had to be rediscovered. We would add, too, that the Chinese invention became known in Europe after the time of Marco Polo where it was soon used as a mariner's compass. The incident is well known and can easily be established on the testimony of literary sources, but while sauntering through the National Museum at Washington, the writer discovered a palpable evidence in the show cases there exhibited, which displayed the Chinese pocket instruments containing south-pointing needles presumably a few centuries old, side by side with European compasses. They are of the same oblong shape and consist of two tablets hinged in the same manner. The European instruments have sun-dials in addition and are decidedly more serviceable for practical use but we can not doubt that for the original idea our ancestors are indebted to our Mongol fellow-men. 26

We wish to express here our indebtedness to the National Museum and its officers, and especially to Prof. Otis T. Mason and Mr. George C. Maynard. for the reproduction of characteristic specimens of this interesting collection.

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The Personification Of Stars To the Chinese (as also in some respects to the Babylonians) the stars are actual presences who sway the destinies of mankind, and we reproduce here a series of illustrations from a Buddhist picture-book printed in Japan. They are based upon ancient traditions ultimately derived from Sumer and Accad, but we have at present no means to determine the question of their history, especially as to their fate in China. One thing, however, may be regarded as certain, viz., that their traditional forms are prior to the calendar reform of the Jesuits. Hence we must assume that they have been imported by the way on land either by the Buddhists from India, or through some earlier civilising influences perhaps from ancient Babylon, or may be in later times from Greece by way of Bactria and Tibet.

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An historical connection of some kind or other with Western astronomy which also derives its origin from ancient Babylon, can scarcely be doubted; for the general similarities are too pronounced, and the more particular ones serve as obvious evidences which cannot be rejected, while the differences afford suggestions in regard to their development and fate.

According to the Chinese and Japanese custom, the series begins in the right upper corners and the order proceeds downwards and to the left. The first figure represents the sun; the second, the moon. In the next row we see the polar star seated (like Buddha) on a lotus and holding in his hands a wheel to indicate that he is the hub of the heavens. As Buddha in the spiritual world, so the polar star among the constellations is alone at rest while all other things in the universe whirl round in unceasing rotation.

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In the same column is the star of twilight-brightness, which may be either the morning or evening star. The third row of the same page begins the series of stars that constitute Ursa Major, popularly called "the dipper" in America and known in China as "the bushel."

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The satellite of the seventh star in Ursa Major is pictured as a smaller companion in the right hand corner in the field of his bigger brother. Since he stands at the very point of the constellation, his significance is in inverse proportion to his size, in a similar way as Tom Thumb always takes the initiative in all deeds and proves to be the saviour of his seven brothers.

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The seven stars of Ursa Major are very conspicuous in the northern firmament, and turn around in the sky like a big hand on the celestial dial pointing out the hour in the clock work of the universe. There is a proverbial saying in China which incorporates the popular Chinese view as follows: "When the handle of the northern bushel (Peh Tao) points east at nightfall it is spring throughout the land; when it points south, it is summer; when west, it is autumn; and when north, winter."

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The three stars ι, κ, λ. of Ursa Major are supposed to be the residence of the three councilor spirits mentioned in the Kan Ying P‘ien as recording the deeds of men, and thus our constellation is symbolically identified in the imagination of the Chinese, with divine justice.

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The seven planets are here increased after the precedence of Hindu astrology by two three-headed figures called Rahu and Ketu, the former being conceived as the head, and the latter as the tail of the dragon who is supposed to be responsible for solar and lunar eclipses. Rahu represents the ascending and Ketu the descending nodes in the ecliptic.

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The nine personalities which correspond to the seven planets plus Rahu and Ketu are in Hindu mythology called: Surya, the Sun; Chandra, the moon; Mangala, Mars; Buddha, Mercury; Vrihaspati, Jupiter; Sukra, Venus; Sani, Saturn; while Ketu and Rahu are identified with stars in the Dragon. Rahu is represented headless and Ketu as a trunkless head. A representation of this Hindu notion is found in Colonel Stuart's zodiac picture reproduced in Moor's Hindu Pantheon, Plate XLVIII. It shows Surya the sun in the center drawn by seven horses, with Aruna as charioteer. Surya in the colored original is in gold, while Aruna is painted deep red. Chandra rides an antelope, Mangala a ram, Buddha is seated on a carpet; Rahu and Ketu here interrupt the regular order, the former being represented as riding on an owl, while the latter, a mere head, is placed on a divan.

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A HINDU ZODIAC.

Vrihaspati like Buddha is seated on an animal that may have been intended for a cat, while Sani rides on a raven. Next in order on our tables beginning with the second column of their fourth page, are the twenty-eight constellations mentioned above which play an important part in Chinese occultism.

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THE ARMILLARY SPHERES OF THE PEKING OBSERVATORY

The approximate outline of the constellation is indicated in each case above the picture, and we see, for instance, why the fifteenth constellation is called "astride," and the twenty-sixth, a "drawn bow." We add here to our illustrations of stars a picture of Chih Nü and Keng Niu, the stars Vega and Aquila on either side of the Milky Way, of which Chinese folklore tells one of the prettiest fairytales of China. It is briefly thus: The sun-god had a daughter Chili Nü (star Vega =α in Lyre) who excelled by her skill in weaving and her industrial habits. To recompense her he had her married to Keng Niu the herdsman (constellation Aquila), who herded his cattle on the silver stream of heaven (the Milky Way). As soon as married, Chih Nü changed her habits for the worse; she forsook her loom and gave herself up to merry-making and idleness.

THE SPINNING DAMSEL AND COWHERD. A Chinese fairy tale of the star Vega. A native illustration from Williams's Middle Kingdom.

Thereupon her father decided to separate the lovers by the stream and placed them each on one side of the Milky Way, allowing the husband to meet his wife over a bridge of many thousand magpies only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, which is a holy day in China even now. We know that the Chinese government has kept an imperial astronomer since prehistoric times, for the office is mentioned in the earliest documents. The famous emperor Kang Hi erected a new observatory which was built according to the instructions of the Jesuit fathers whose learning at that time was highly respected in

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China. The instruments remained at Peking until the Boxer riots when they were removed to Germany at the command of Emperor William.

OBSERVATORY OF PEKING. GENERAL VIEW

Our illustrations will enable the reader to form a clear conception of the instruments as well as the style in which they have been put up. They stand on a high platform overlooking the city, surrounded by battlements in the style of an old fortress. One general view is a reproduction of an old cut at the time of the erection of the observatory under the Jesuit fathers. The other one is a photograph made in modern times and showing the instruments in situ before their removal to Potsdam. The gem of the collection is decidedly the spherical astrolabe which has been made after the instructions of Ko Chow King, astronomer royal of emperor Tai Tsu, of the Yüan dynasty, the founder of Peking. It is said to be a marvel of Chinese art. In the

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general view we notice a quadrant on the left-hand side between two light columns in French style. It is a present of King Louis XIV sent to the emperor Kang Hi in the seventeenth century. Among the instruments preserved in the shed there are some curios of great artistic and historical value. The whole observatory as it stood has always been regarded as one of the most noteworthy treasures of the Tartar capital of the Celestial Empire.

SPHERICAL ASTROLABE OF THE PEKING OBSERVATORY

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Prehistoric Connections The evidences that indicate a Western origin of Chinese civilisation are very strong, and it seems that the first Chinese settlers must have come in prehistoric times from a country that was closely connected with the founders of Babylonian culture. There is an unmistakable resemblance between cuneiform writing and Chinese script, so as to make it quite probable that they have been derived from a common source. We have, further, the sexagenary cycle corresponding to the use of the number sixty in Babylonia, and many similarities in astronomical names and notions. Moreover, the Chinese divide the circle into three hundred and sixty degrees as did the Babylonians, a system which has been adhered to in the West down to modern times.

GREAT CELESTIAL GLOBE OF THE PEKING OBSERVATORY

The Prometheus legend seems to come from the same source (presumably Akkad) as the story of the Chinese "Fire Man," Sui-Jen. The Babylonian story of Tiamat as to the formation of the world is repeated in the legend of P‘an-Ku, the personification of the ancient abyss. Finally the yih system of the yang and the yin is paralleled in at least one Semitic tribe by the similar divining method of the Urim and Thummim. Though in the latter case the loss of details prevents us from having any evidence of a historical connection, the similarity of the purpose, as well as the duality of the elements of the oracle cannot be denied. If none of these indications is conclusive when considered separately, we can not disregard them when all are taken together.

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Further bearing in mind that there is an ancient tradition in China of a settlement having been made by a tribe coming from the Far West, we may very well assume the ancestors of the Chinese to be a detachment of the founders of the Babylonian civilisation, either Sumerians or Akkadians, and that they left their home in prehistoric times presumably even before the first Semitic invasion or soon afterwards. They were perhaps that portion of the people who would not submit to the new condition of things and preferred exile to absorption by a victorious enemy. Our proposition that even in prehistoric times a connection must have existed between all civilised nations of the East and of the West, will be further borne out by the additional evidence furnished by a comparative study of the several calendar systems, as based upon the sun's course through the zodiac, and it is remarkable that it includes even the Mayas of Central America.